The Indian Speciality Chemicals E-conference organised by the Indian Chemical News, an important online resource for news, views, analysis, trends, technology updates and interviews in the chemical, petrochemical, and petrochemical space, will be held today virtually from 3 - 4:30 PM and the topic is "Indian Speciality Chemicals: Opportunities Galore".

The focus of the E-conference is to double the Indian speciality chemical industry market from US $32 billion to reach US $65 billion by FY25 by looking at consumer trends and new opportunities which are in store for specialty manufacturers based in India. The segment constitutes about 18% of the total chemical industry in India and is expected to grow with a 12% CAGR in the next five years. 

The E-conference will see participation of chemical industry stalwarts - Samir Somaiya, CMD, Godavari Biorefineries Ltd.; Ganesh Srinivasan, CEO, Resil Chemicals Pvt. Ltd.; K. Natarajan, Executive Director & Chief Operating Officer, Galaxy Surfactants Ltd.; Prof. Dr. R. K. Khandal, President - R&D, India Glycols Ltd.; Kaushal Soparkar, Managing Director, Meghmani Finechem Ltd.; Ashish Shinde, Country Sales Director, Croda India; and Pravin Prashant, Editor, Indian Chemical News. 

The key discussion points for Specialty Chemicals are: Bridging the infrastructure gap; Fragmented nature of the industry; Leveraging India's cost advantage by investing in production for export and in R&D; Setting up high growth aspirations; Invest in developing the market in India; Developing a special business model; Shortage of feedstock supply; and preparing for M&A. 

Speaking about the Speciality Chemicals conference, Pravin Prashant, Editor, Indian Chemical News said, "The focus is on green and sustainable chemicals in the Speciality Chemicals sector. The discussion will also revolve around new molecules which will make their presence either through Captured CO2 (Purple Carbon); Plants and Biological Sources (Green Carbon); Marine Sources such as Algae (Blue Carbon); and carbon received from Waste Materials (Grey Carbon). In all these areas, there is a lot of scope for collaborative models that need to be worked out by all the stakeholders so that India can take a leadership position." 

Currently, China constitutes 20 percent of the global speciality chemical industry i.e. US $800 billion, even a 5 percent shift in market share from China to India can translate into an US $8 billion opportunity for the Indian Speciality Chemical companies. This can be easily achievable as the closures of many chemical units in China due to stricter environmental norms have affected the supply chain for many global players.